Tagged: Word of Mouth Segments

In 2007, Tay Zonday uploaded his video, “Chocolate Rain” to YouTube.  Before the rain soaked the ground, it became a viral sensation. Unlike many VH1 one-hit-wonders, Zonda’s career continues to thrive more than five years after the chocolate storm ran its course.  For musicians, finding a label was been traditionally been the way to stardom. For aspiring actors, heading to Hollywood has been the well-trod, yet equally unreliable gateway. Would-be YouTube celebrities can come from anywhere.

While celebrity might be an aspiration to some, actual stars complain about the adoring hordes fawning over their every move and the aggressive paparazzi capturing sloppy visits to the coffee shop and gym. For those envious of Kardashian-style celebrity, there is one man to call.

 An unusual production is making a landing this weekend at Dartmouth’s Hopkins Center …“Baby Universe,” tells a fantastical futuristic story of earth and its inhabitants on the path to extinction. The only hope for survival? Creating a new universe to colonize.

News of the New Hampshire Primary gives pundits plenty to chew on this week. Later this year, momentum will flag and campaigns will wear on. Absent an imminent vote or sex scandal, media-makers occasionally flirt with exciting uncertainties – or as Steve Kornacki calls them, political red herrings.

Character is the currency of political ads and attacks. It makes business deals attractive or unsavory. Character is described in court trials and novels as what makes a person tick. We’re going to introduce you to the proposition that human behavior is not driven by character, but context.

Ever overhear a watercooler conversation about the latest episode of the latest TV show that everyone’s watching, except you? Well, fear not. As it turns out, even the most buzzed about television shows are not being watched by the masses at least not in real time. Audiences for premium cable programs like True Blood and Dexter draw only a couple million viewers when they hit the air compare that with the old network giants, like ER or Friends, which played to ten or fifteen million viewers each week.

The 2012 campaign leapt from debate stand to voting booth last night, as Iowa held the first national caucus - the first step in the eventual selection the GOP nominee.  As many expected, front runner and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won the night; perhaps by a slimmer margin than he would have hoped… 8 votes!  Coming in second by fewer votes than there are members in the Fellowship of the Ring, was Rick Santorum – one of the last remaining candidates to show a sudden surge in popularity.